Sound insulated folding door



Sept. 8, 1959 Filed June 12, 1957 B. W. MERRILL SOUND INSULATED FOLDING DOOR 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. gem/Z512 EfMer/"z/, mwd a fl QMW Sept. 8, 1959 B. w. MERRILL souun INSULATED FOLDING noon Filed June 12, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. gem/262% WfiZer/Z/Z, M

Sept. 8, 1959 B. w. MERRILL SOUND INSULATED FOLDING DOOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 12, 1957 INVENTOR. 39/212622 Wfiier/zll,

United States Patent ()fiice 2,903,055 Patented Sept. 8, 1959 2,903,055 SOUND INSULATED FOLDING noon Bennett W. Merrill, New Castle, Ind., assignor to New Castle Products, Inc., New Castle, Ind., a corporation of Indiana App'licationJune 12, 1957, Serial No. 665,180 12 Claims. (Cl. 160-40) The present invention relates generally to an improved form of accordion-type door structure arranged for expanding and contracting operation, the structure being improved by the provision of a sound insulating or sound retarding arrangement which is attached to the frame of the structure and functions with the same during expanding and contracting thereof.

A folding door of the type to be described is well known and widely used for varying purposes, especially subdividing floor areas in a building. The use of these foldable structures enables a given area to be readily subdivided into completely separate portions without the use of permanent wall structure thus allowing full converting of a given areaat will into either completely separate and enclosed rooms or a single large room.

When the foldable-door or closure member is fully expanded to subdivide and completely separate a given area into two smaller sections, the problem of sound insulating one section relative to another-becomes particularly important. Withthe use of permanent wall .structures, sound insulating material forms a part 'of the wall structure and no converting of thearea subdivided thereby is contemplated or is possible. Thus, with the use of a permanent wall structure, the problem of sound insulation may be readily overcome. However, in the instance where foldable closures are used, the problem of sound insulation cannot be readily'and easily dealt with due to the necessity of providing sound retarding materialwhich is capable of folding or unfolding with the closure member during operation of the same. Generally speaking, this latter problem has proven to be a diflicult one, the main difliculties residing in the provision of efficiently functioning, foldable sound insulating material which can readily be incorporated in the foldable closure structure without unduly increasing the weight or cost of the same and without hindering efficient functioning of the relative movable elements forming the foldable structure.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved folding door structure having included therein a new and improved form of sound insulating structure which can be readily manufactured and installed in a foldable closure at a relatively low cost and which is of lightweight construction, eflicient operation and noninterfering with efficient operation'of the door structure.

A further object is to provide a new and improved sound insulated-folding door having included therein a sound retarding layer of material formed from a pluralityof spaced panels hingedly interconnected by flexible portions, the sound insulating material being readily detachably connected to the hinge frame structure of the door intermediate the same and the outer flexible covering for efiicient folding operation with the door.

Still;a further object is to provide a new and improved sound insulated folding door structure being provided with a readily foldable sound insulating layer of material which'is, in its entirety, uninterrupted to completely enclose the interiorof the door structure during use ineluding operation thereof, the door structure being further provided with air venting means to allow for the escape of air from the interior of the structure during operation of the same, the air venting means being transversely located relative to the axis of operation of the door structure to function efficiently Without diminishing in any respect the sound deadening efficiency of the insulating layer.

Other objects not specifically set forth will become apparent from the following detailed description made in conjunction with the drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a fragmentary top plan view of the new and improved sound insulated folding door of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section in plan view of a portion of the folding door taken generally along line 22 of Fig. 3 and illustrating the attachment of the sound retarding layer and outer cover to the hinge structure of the door;

Fig; 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the improved door having portions thereof progressively broken away to better illustrate the structural features of the door;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken generally along line 44 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective of the lead post of the door illustrating the air vent openings therein; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken generally along line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the drawings, a section of an accordion-type folding door structure 10 is illustrated as including a plurality of horizontally extending and vertically spaced lazy tongs assemblies 11 which form a framework which is foldably contractible and expansible in a known manner. 'Each of the lazy tongs frame assemblies 11 includes a plurality of pivotally interconnected hinge plates 12 arranged and held in criss-cross relation at the center points thereof by short pintles 13. Adjacent free ends of the hinge plates 12 are pivotally interconnected by long pintles 14 which extend the full vertical height of the door section 10 and interconnect each lazy tongs assembly 11 for cooperative-action with one another in accordance with conventional framework design of folding doors. A complete foldable door structure 10 further includes a lead post 15 and an end post (not shown) attached to the ends of the lazy tongs framework. The lead post 15 includes a vertically extending, rectangularly shaped'hollow post 16 having attached to the outer end margin thereof a sealing member retaining channel 17. A resilient sealing strip 18, to be more specifically described, is received and held in the channel-shaped element 17. As shown in Fig. 3, a handle structure 19 forms a part of the lead post 15 and provides means for grasping to open or close the door section 10. The lead post 15 is suitably connected to each of the lazy tongs assemblies 11 by half hinge plates 20 pivotally connected to the endmost long pintles 14. The opposite ends of the lazy tongs assemblies 11 are similarly attached to an end post (not shown) which may be of any suitable design and which, if desired, may be of the same structure arrangement as the lead post 15 To limit the extent of expansion of each of the lazy tongs frame assemblies 11, chain sections 21 are suitably interconnected with the short pintles 13. Each chain section 21 is of a predetermined length to control the extent to which the door section 10 can be expanded by limiting the short pintles 13 against excessive movement away from one another. The door section 10 is supported from an overhead track in a known manner by trolley assemblies 22 and 23 shown in broken lines in Fig. 1. The specific details of mounting the door section 10 are not illustrated as. it is to be understood 3 that any known type of mounting arrangement may be used for the purposes of the present invention.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, the outer surface of each hinge plate 12 on opposite sides of the short pintles 13 have attached thereto a separate, vertically extending panel 24 formed from lightweight sound insulating material. Each panel 24 extends the full height of the door assembly and is attached to each vertically successive hinge plate 12 of each lazy tongs frame assembly 11, as particularly shown in Fig. 3, by removable fastening means 25. In Fig. 3 the hinge plates 12 are illustrated as carrying spaced apartures 26 through which the fastening elements 25 are received.

The spaced, vertically directed panels 24 are interconnected by flexible hinge portions 27 which, as illustrated, are provided by a continuous sheet 28 of flexible material which is bonded or laminated to the inner surfaces of successive panels to form a continuous, uninterrupted sound insulating layer. The continuous sheet 28 is of sutlicient over-all width to allow complete expansion and contraction of the door assembly 10 without danger of rupture or tearing of the material from which the sheet 28 is formed. The panels 24 may be formed from any suitable sound retarding material which is preferably lightweight and of over-all low cost. It has been found that panels formed from chipboard provide a laminated lightweight structure entirely suitable for the purposes of the present invention. The continuous sheet 28 interconnecting the panels 24 and forming the flexible hinge portions 27 may be formed from kraft paper impregnated with any suitable material if desired. As particularly shown in Fig. 2, the sheet 28 is bonded or laminated to the inner surface of each successive panel 24 to form a continuous uninterrupted layer of sound insulating material, the relatively rigid and substantially thick panels 24 being closely spaced to one another to provide an eflicient sound insulating layer.

To complete the door structure 10, an outer cover 29 of any suitable flexible material is attached to the hinge plates 12 of each lazy tongs assembly 11 by the removable fasteners 25. The inner surface of each cover 29 has attached thereto a plurality of vertically spaced tapes 30 which are sewn along one side margin thereof to the outer cover 29. The provision of a free side margin on each tape 30 allows for ready insertion or removal of a fastening element 25, the enlarged head of which is received intermediate the outer surface of each tape 30 and the inner surface of the outer cover 29 to hide the same from view externally of the door assembly 10. Any number of tapes 30 may be used in hanging the outer covers 29 on the panels 24 and hinge plates 12 and, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the sewed margins of the top and bottom tapes 30 are the innermost margins of the same to provide for ready accessibility to the fastening elements 25 from either the extreme top or bottom of the door structure. As shown in Fig. 1, the ends 31 of each of the outer covers 29 are clamped between the channel-shaped element 17 and the post 16 of the lead post to complete the mounting of the cover members 29 on the door assembly 10.

The top and bottom margins of each of the outer covers 29 carry a sealing skirt 32, one of the outer covers 29 being shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The sealing skirts 32 are stitched to the tapes 31 near the free margins thereof and extend above and below the top and bottom margins of the outer covers 2-9 for sealing contact with the ceiling and floor surfaces. The material of each sealing skirt 32 is highly flexible to maintain engagement with the ceiling and floor surfaces to prevent air from moving in the form of a draft through the door structure 10 above and below the same as well as completely seal the door area for sound insulation purposes.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, as shown in Fig. l, the structural features of the foldable door 10 are repeated on each side of the same thus providing an outer cover, a sealing skirt and a sound insulating layer on each side of the door 10. As previously described, the sound insulating panels 24 are relatively thick and are formed from material capable of providing an etficient sound-deadening function. The panels 24 are closely spaced for sound retarding purposes and are capable of additionally functioning as heat insulators due to the substantial thickness of the laminated material forming the same. Thus, with the particular arrangement described including the provision of the special form of sound insulating layer on each side of the door structure 10, heat insulation as well as sound insulation is provided without materially increasing the over-all weight of the door structure 10 and without interfering in any manner with the efficient folding operation of the same. The panels 24 may be attached to the hinge plates 12 by any suitable fastening elements such as the clamping type element 25 illustrated. The arrangement is such that these same elements may be used to-attach the outer covers 29 to the door structure 10.

With the use of a continuous uninterrupted layer of insulating material along each side of the door 10 in the form described, and further with the use of the top and bottom sealing skirts 32, air is trapped within the interior of the door 10 during operation of the same. The framework of the door 10 defines a substantial internal volumetric capacity requiring the venting of a substantial amount of air during folding or retraction of the door. In other words, operation of the door results in a substantial variation of internal volume which tends to cause ballooning of the free portions of the flexible sheets 28 and the covers 29 when the door is folded. In order to provide means for venting air from the interior of the door structure, the lead post 15 as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is provided with a plurality of vertically spaced openings 33 in the form of rectangular slots carried in the outermost end wall 34 of the hollow post 16. Aligned openings 35 are provided in the gasket retaining channel 17 and the gasket 18 is similarly providid with a plurality of openings 36 in register there- W1 The gasket or sealing member 18 is generally U-shaped in cross section and includes a transverse bottom wall 37 through which the openings 36 extend and having in tegrally formed therewith transversely spaced, outwardly directed sealing lips or ribs 38. The side margins of the gasket 18 are provided with radially outwardly directed shoulders 39 which are received within the gasket retaining grooves defined by the channel 17. With this arrangement, contraction or folding of the door 10 results in the escape of air from the interior thereof through a vertically continuous slot 40 in the rear wall of the post 16, into the interior of the post 16 and outwardly through the several aligned openings in the front or outermost wall 34 and gasket 18.

The short pintles 13 are attached to the post 16 by ears 41 in the known manner having flange-like clamping portions which are received within the slot 40 and held in spaced relation therealong. The direction of the escape of air from the interior of the door 10 is parallel to the longitudinal axis thereof along which the door moves in folding or expanding operation. In this manner the openings provided for the purpose of venting air from the interior of the door 10 are in a transverse plane which does not affect the sound insulating efficiency of the door structure. In other words, the openings do not occur in planes which provide for transverse transmission of sound waves through the door.

As shown in Fig. 6, a channel member 42 being provided with a centrally inwardly recessed sealing rib receiving portion 43 is particularly adapted for use in closing and sealing the door 10 when the same is moved into its extended condition. The channel 42 is further provided with outwardly directed wall portions 44 which completely receive the gasket retaining channel 17 there-r "between, to fsealoff anyi opening transversely of the "end of the door structure. In'thismanner a complete sbundinsulatirig sealcan. be obtained upon full closing the door 10, the channel v42"being suitably carried by the cooperating end of a similarly constructed foldable door structure or fixedly attachedto the door jamb.

Obviously many'modific'ations and variations of the invention as hereinbefore setforth may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore only such limitations shouldbeimposed as are indicated in theappended claims.

-I claim: I

1. A folding door structure of'improved sound insulation quality, said door structure comprising a horizontally movable and vertically extending lead post and an expandible and contractible frame attached to said lead post and which is enclosedon both sides by continuous foldable cover members, sealing skirts in the form of sweep strips of flexible..m-aterial.projecting above and below the top and bottom margins of said door structure along both sides thereof for continuous sealing contact "with verticallyhspaced.and horizontally extending door structure enclosing.surfacesduring operative use of said door 1. structure, .the interiorof said door structure defining an air containing spacesealed by said cover members, sealing skirts and lead post against the introduction thereinto and escape therefrom of air, said air containing space being of changeable volume during operation of said door structure, said lead post having a transverse outer end face which carries a vertically continuous door sealing member which is centrally apertured, said lead post further being provided with at least one opening in said transverse outer end face aligned with a central aperture of said door sealing member to provide for movement of air into and out of said air containing space during operation of said door structure, the arrangement described restricting the movement of air into and out of said door structure to a direction which coincides with the direction of operation of said door structure, said door sealing member closing off said opening in the expanded position of said door structure upon contact of said door sealing member with a vertical door structure enclosing surface.

2. The door structure of claim 1 wherein a continuous and uninterrupted foldable sound insulating layer is car ried by said frame between the same and said cover members on both outer sides of said frame, said sound insulating layers each being coextensive with said structure in the expanded position thereof.

3. In combination, a folding door structure of improved sound insulation quality and a vertically extending channel-type door jamb member, said door structure comprising a horizontally movable and vertically extending lead post and an expandible and contractible frame attached to said lead post and which is enclosed on both sides by continuous foldable cover members, sealing skirts in the form of sweep strips of flexible material projecting above and below the top and bottom margins of said door structure along both sides thereof for continuous sealing contact with vertically spaced and horizontally extending door structure enclosing surfaces during operative use of said door structure, the interior of said door structure defining an air containing space sealed by said cover members, sealing skirts and lead post against the introduction thereinto and escape therefrom of air, said air containing space being of changeable volume during operation of said door structure, said lead post having a transverse outer end face which is arranged to be received within said door jamb member in the expanded position -of said door structure, said lead post further being provided with at least one opening in said transverse outer end face venting said air containing space to provide for .movement of air into and out of said air containing space .during operation of said door structure, the arrangement described restricting the movement of air into and out of said door structure/to a" direction which coincides with the direction of operation of said door structure, said door jamb member upon'receiving said end face of said lead post therewithin closing-off said opening to an extent that sound transmission therethrough into the interior of said door structure is eliminated.

4. The door structure-of claim 3 wherein a continuous and uninterrupted foldable sound insulating layer is carried by said frame between the same and said cover members on both outer sides of said frame, said sound insulating layers each being coextensive with said structure in the expanded position thereof.

5. In an accordion-type foldable'door structure characterized by a foldable skeletal frame having vertical posts defining the ends thereof, and by readily foldable cover members attached to said frame and enclosing the sides thereof, the provision of an accordion foldable sound insulating structure carried by said frame along each of the sides thereof intermediate said frame and said cover members, each of said sound insulating structures being formed from a plurality of vertically directed and closely spaced relatively rigid panels of substantial density, said panels being interconnected longitudinally of said frame and independent thereof by vertically'unbroken readily flexible hinges spanning the space between said panels, which flexiblehinges are defined by relatively thin material having'portions overlapping adjacent panels and attached thereto, said flexible hinges being relatively narrow as their span is measured between said panels to permit close spacing of said panels for sound insulating efficiency retention while further permitting accordion folding thereof with said frame.

6. The door structure of claim 5 wherein said panels are each formed from multi-ply chipboard of substantial mass and bulk density to provide improved sound insulation without undue space utilization.

7. The door structure of claim 5 wherein said flexible hinges are defined by a continuous sheet of readily flexible and thin material laminated with successive panels of a sound insulating structure.

8. The door structure of claim 5 wherein said flexible hinges are defined by a continuous sheet of readily flexible and thin material secured to the inner side faces of successive panels of a sound insulating structure.

9. In an accordion-type foldable door structure characterized by a foldable skeletal frame having a vertical posts defining the ends thereof, and by readily foldable cover members attached to said frame and enclosing the sides thereof, the provision of sound insulating features which include an accondion foldable sound insulating structure carried by said frame along each of the sides thereof intermediate said frame and said cover members, each of said sound insulating structures being formed from a plurality of vertically directed and closely spaced relatively rigid panels of substantial density, said panels being interconnected longitudinally of said frame and independent thereof by vertically unbroken readily flexible hinges spanning the space between said panels, which flexible hinges are defined by relatively thin material having portions overlapping adjacent panels and attached thereto, said flexible hinges being relatively narrow as their span is measured between said panels to permit close spacing of said panels for sound insulating efficiency re tention while further permitting accordion folding thereof with said frame, said sound insulating features further including accordion foldable projecting skirts of readily flexible material forming a part of said structure and foldable therewith and positioned relative to both of said cover members along the top and bottom margins thereof for space sealing contact with top and bottom door structure framing surfaces.

10. The door structure of claim 9 wherein one of said posts which constitutes the lead post is provided with an opening therein which vents the interior of said door structure as confined by said sound insulating features,

form of sweepstrips of flexible material projecting above and below the top and bottom margins of said door structure along both sides thereof for continuous sealing contact with vertically spaced and horizontally extending doorstnicture enclosing surfaces during operative use of said door structure, the interior of said door structure defining an air containing space sealed by said cover members, sealing skirts and lead post against the introduction thereinto and escape therefrom of air, said air containing space being of changeable volume during operation of said door structure, said lead post having a transverse outer end face provided with at least one opening for venting said air containing space to provide for movement of air into and out of said air containing space during operation of said door structure, said door jamb member having a transverse outer end face juxtaposed to the transverse outer end face of said lead post,

one of said transverse outer end faces having mounted thereon a vertically continuous compressible sealing member which is out of closing relation with said opening in the contracted position of said door structure but which closes and seals off said opening in the any expanded position of said door structure, in which position said lead post contacts said door jamb member.

12. The door structure of claim 11 wherein a continuous and uninterrupted foldable sound insulating layer is carried by said frame between the same and said cover members on both outer sides of said frame, said sound insulating layers each being coextensive with said structure in the expanded position thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,810,847 Nordell et a1. June 16, 1931 1,877,829 Erlinder Sept. 20, 1932 1,878,034 Vansant Sept. 20, 1932 1,893,147 Oberdorfer et a1. Jan. 3, 1933 2,220,939 McGuire et al Nov. 12, 1940 2,655,211 Schaap Oct. 13, 1953 2,754,901 Madsen July 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 884,863 Germany July 30, 1953 

